Here is the gun safety message we have to do our best to communicate to the public.
No one is proposing to take away all guns. No one is proposing to repeal the Second Amendment. If that is what you believe the GOP and the NRA have succeeded in doing what they set out to do, which was to brainwash you.
What is being proposed is what a vast majority of Americans, including Democrats, Republicans, independents and even gun owners already agree with. First, background checks for everyone who buys a gun, no exceptions. That means no guns for terrorists, felons and the violently insane. Second, no military weapons of war. That means no machine guns or "bump stocks" that turn ordinary rifles into machine guns. It also means no AR-15, Kalashnikov or Uzi-type firearms (military assault rifles) with muzzle velocities so high that bullets don't just pass through internal organs but turn them into surgically-unrepairable mush. Third, no magazine capacities higher than nine or ten rounds.
That's about it. With these laws in place the possibility of mass slaughter will be sharply reduced. Australia put these kinds of rules in place after a massacre in 1996 and hasn't had one since.
Monday, February 26, 2018
Monday, February 19, 2018
Trump Lawyer's $130,000 Payment to Porn Star
The organization Common Cause is one of the oldest and best at fighting corruption and opposing the influence of big money in politics. A $130,000 payment by Trump's personal lawyer to a porn star to buy her silence regarding an affair with Trump may have violated multiple election laws. Below is the background on a petition Common Cause is filing to expand the ongoing investigations of the Trump campaign into this latest revelation of its questionable and potentially illegal doings. To add your name to mine and thousands of other concerned citizens on this petition, go to this link.
Here is a concise background statement on the petition:
The American people have a right to know who has influence with our elected officials and we are all agreed that no one, not even President Trump, is above the law.
Donald Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen has now admitted that he made the $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election. But despite Cohen’s assertions, this admission doesn’t solve the Trump campaign’s legal problems.
As Trump’s personal attorney, Cohen was an agent of then-candidate Trump. And his October 2016 payment to Daniels while she was considering going public about her affair with Trump certainly seems like an effort to influence the election in the form of hush money.
The law says that any money spent to influence an election on a candidate’s behalf is an in-kind “contribution” to that candidate -- subject to a $2,700 limit and disclosure requirements, neither of which were followed here.
That’s why Common Cause has filed official complaints with the DOJ and FEC -- and they must fully investigate whether the hush money paid to Stormy Daniels was an illegal in-kind contribution to the Trump campaign.
We deserve to have transparency about how and where money was spent during Trump’s presidential campaign, and we need to hold our elected officials accountable to the law.
Michael Cohen -- and anyone else involved in this payment -- must answer questions under oath so we can discover the full truth of what happened. And if Cohen didn’t act alone, and he coordinated this payment with Trump or any other member of his campaign, they must be held accountable for breaking the law as well.
Here is a concise background statement on the petition:
The American people have a right to know who has influence with our elected officials and we are all agreed that no one, not even President Trump, is above the law.
Donald Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen has now admitted that he made the $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election. But despite Cohen’s assertions, this admission doesn’t solve the Trump campaign’s legal problems.
As Trump’s personal attorney, Cohen was an agent of then-candidate Trump. And his October 2016 payment to Daniels while she was considering going public about her affair with Trump certainly seems like an effort to influence the election in the form of hush money.
The law says that any money spent to influence an election on a candidate’s behalf is an in-kind “contribution” to that candidate -- subject to a $2,700 limit and disclosure requirements, neither of which were followed here.
That’s why Common Cause has filed official complaints with the DOJ and FEC -- and they must fully investigate whether the hush money paid to Stormy Daniels was an illegal in-kind contribution to the Trump campaign.
We deserve to have transparency about how and where money was spent during Trump’s presidential campaign, and we need to hold our elected officials accountable to the law.
Michael Cohen -- and anyone else involved in this payment -- must answer questions under oath so we can discover the full truth of what happened. And if Cohen didn’t act alone, and he coordinated this payment with Trump or any other member of his campaign, they must be held accountable for breaking the law as well.
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